Improved facing for stair-treads



yUNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

OLIVER SNOW, OFV MERIDEN, CONNECTICUT.

IMPROVED FACING FOR STAlR-TREADS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 53,193, dated March 13,1866.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, OLIVER SNOW, of Meriden, in the county of New Havenand State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement inMetal Facings for Stair- Treads; and I do hereby declare the following,when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings and the lettersof reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact descriptionof the saine, and which said drawings constitute part of thisspecification, and represent, in-

Figure 1, a perspective view of a stair with my facing placed thereon,and in Fig. 2 a face view of one tread-facing.

My invention relates to improvement in the manufacture of metallicfacings for stairtreads.

' Heretoforc facings have been formed from cast-metal, necessarily heavyand clumsy, and from their unavoidable weight are expensive, and areavoided where anything like a neat or tasteful appearance is sought.

My invention, designed to overcome these objections to metallicstair-facings, consists in a sheet-metal facing perforated so as toprevent the foot from slipping, as also to give to the stair a tastefulappearance, and to reduce the weight of the facing, and provided withsuitable holes for securing the facing to the tread.

'To enable others to more fully understand my invention, as well as toenable those skilled in the art to manufacture and apply the same, Iwill proceed to fully describe the same as illustrated in theaccompanying drawings.

I first cut the metal into plates of the given size and form-that is tosay, according to the tread for which it is designed, whether forstraight or winding stairs-preferring sheet brass or iron. I then, inany punching press or machine, punch out so much of the plate as willrender the surface of the plate so uneven as to prevent the foot placedthereon in ascending or descending the stairs from slipping, preservingalways the edge untouched by the punch entirely around the fac- 1n g.

In Fig. 2 the punchings are represented as diamond form, which I find tobe the most economical forni-that is, the largest amount of metal isremoved, while that remainingis in the best possible form to produce theobject of stair-facings. The value of the metal thus punched from theplate fully pays the cost ot labor, so that the cost of `manufacture issimply the cost ofthe sheet metal. Other forms orl designs of punchingmay be used, which will readily suggest themselves to designers ofsimilar work.

In Fig. 1 the plate is represented as applied to a tread, the punchedholes serving for the insertion of screws to secure the plate, firstcountersinking the perforation to receive the head of a screw or nail bywhich the facing is secured to the tread, so as be Hush with or belowthe surface of the plate.

The flexibility ofthe plate will allow ortits being formed to tit thenosing of the treadone advantage over cast metal. Though designed to beplaced directly upon the tread, yet the lightness of the metal andconsequent neatness ofthe plate render it peculiarly adapted to beplaced upon a carpeted tread for the preservation of the carpet.

Many other advantages which my facing has over others might be named;but enough has been said to show the practical utility of my invention.

I do not broadly claim perforated sheetinetal; but

What I claim as new and useful, and desire to secure by Letters latent,is-

The herein-described sheet-metal facing for stair-treads, as a newarticle of manufacture.

OLIVER SNO VV. JOHN E. EARLE, H. D. HATCH.

